On Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:39:48 -0400, the infamous Bob Engelhardt
scrawled the following:

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
... Today we discovered that some
ceilings have gotten wet and the nails rusted. The heads come off or
the tin tears before the nails pull out. !&%$#(!
...

Martin H. Eastburn wrote:
I'd grind off the nail head - take the tin off and with a Vice-grip
plier pull the nail out.

Ah - that's what I thought, too. I tried it today - too much collateral
damage, as they say, to the tin. Again the problem is with the nails
being slightly countersunk. That and working over your head while
standing on a step ladder.

Were you using a small, sintered carbide ball? (and 3 layers of eye
protection?)


It keep coming back to prying off from behind. As many alternatives
that I try, it's still the best: fastest,easiest, safest.

I hear that. Didja try one of those little Satanley or Vaughan
mini-bars yet? Alternatively, make your own tiny cat's paw out of
1/4" rod. Flatten, curve, notch, grind, and harden/temper. I wonder
if a standard 8" timber spike/nail might work. They're pretty tough.

--
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we
shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.
-- Samuel Butler